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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29535711">Embrace the World in Grey</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/happydaygirl/pseuds/happydaygirl'>happydaygirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Feels, Joe is colourblind, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, Love, M/M, Post Movie, Slice of Life, no booker, taking liberties with science somewhat here</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:40:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,372</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29535711</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/happydaygirl/pseuds/happydaygirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nile finds out from the others that Joe is colourblind, and hatches a plan with them to ensure Joe gets to experience the world in full colour for the first time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>114</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Embrace the World in Grey</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have taken some poetic license with science here, as you will see below...</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nile would have had no idea if Nicky hadn’t mentioned it in passing one day as they drove through the city to their latest safe house.</p><p>It wasn’t until they had settled themselves down in the evening that, as soon as Joe had left to fetch another bottle of wine, that she turned incredulous eyes to Andy and Nicky. ‘Why has no one ever mentioned Joe is colour-blind before?’</p><p>‘Never comes up in normal conversation I guess?’ Andy shrugged, swallowing down the last of her whiskey as she turned back to her book.</p><p>‘So he’s totally colour-blind?’ she pressed Nicky in a hushed tone, settling next to him on the sofa, making sure Joe was still occupied gathering up nibbles for them in the kitchen.</p><p>‘Yes, everything is totally grey for him.’ Nicky replied, a sad tone to his voice. ‘I think it’s a shame. He can’t see any of the beautiful colours all around him or anything.’ He shrugged as he cleared his throat. ‘but we have dealt with it all these years- we’re all used to it.’</p><p>‘Huh…’ Nile pondered his words. ‘How does he drive? How does he know when the light turns red?’</p><p>‘He sees different tones of grey, white and black.’ Andy muttered, not taking her eyes off the book she was reading. ‘He knows where the red light it- so he knows when that circle goes a darker shade of grey that he should stop.’</p><p>‘Wow…I’ve never known anyone totally colour-blind before.’ She said, more to herself than anyone else.</p><p>‘What are you guys talking about?’ Joe’s voice interrupted her thoughts as he came back into the room, arms laden with a tray of nuts and olives, a fresh bottle of wine tucked under his arms, which he artfully drops onto Nicky’s lap as he places the tray down and sit down next to him again.</p><p>‘Nothing, just things…’ Nicky smiled as he lifted his slippered feet and posited them on Joe’s lap, grinning as Joe rests his arms on them as he gathered a handful of olives into his hands and popped them into his mouth.</p><p>Nile watched him from the brim of her refilled wine glass, an idea forming in her mind.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>When she mentions her grand plan to Andy and Nicky the next day they both almost laugh in her face. ‘Technology surely hasn’t advanced enough?’ Andy scoffed, and Nile can imagine her eyes rolling behind her sunglasses- she shoved her phone in front of their faces and they read the blurb on the website, their eyes widening with each word.</p><p>‘Lets do it.’ Nicky nodded, a smile on his face as Nile whooped and pressed ‘purchase’ on the order form.</p><p>‘Should take a couple of weeks to ship here, and then we can do it.’ She told them- she could tell all three of them were already planning what they were going to do.</p><hr/><p>Its almost three weeks later, and Joe is none the wiser as he and Nicky go about their day, only for his husband to order him into the garden of their safehouse, on pain of death if he comes into the house.</p><p>Frowning, he paced the garden, wondering what the hell the others were doing. It wasn’t his birthday, not that they even still celebrated their birthdays, save for Nile since she was still so new.</p><p>‘You can come in now.’ He looked up as Andy called down to him, an unreadable expression on her face, which didn’t even waver when Joe looked at her quizzically as he stepped back into the coolness of the house.</p><p>‘What’s going on?’ he asked, voice laden with confusion.</p><p>‘You’ll see.’ A flicker of a smile. Nothing terrible, then.</p><p>He took a deep breath as he pushed open the door to their living area, which had been pulled closed. His frown deepened as he saw Nicky and Nile stood amid a literal cloud of colourless balloons, alongside a vase of grey flows. He also noticed they were wearing oversized t-shirts, rather than their usual outfits, which was strange.</p><p>‘Uh…what is this?’ Joe now laughed nervously, not sure what to think.</p><p>‘Nile found out you were colour-blind.’ Andy’s voice behind him almost made him jump. He turned to see her putting on what looked like a large flowery necklace before she came to stand next to Nile.</p><p>‘Right…’ Joe looked to Nile, who couldn’t contain her smile.</p><p>‘I did some research.’ She said simply, before nodding to Nicky. The two men looked at each other as Nicky stepped forwards and pulled something he had been hiding behind his back out. It was a wrapped box, finished off with a bow.</p><p>‘For you, my love.’ Nicky said in a quiet voice, before stepping back as Joe looked down at the box that was now in his hands.</p><p>‘Guys, come on….’ He smiled, still nervous as he unwrapped it. He didn’t know what this was, but the others seemed pretty excited by it nonetheless.</p><p>His eyes widened as he tore off the last of the paper. ‘Colourblind corrective glasses?’ he muttered, voice low as he digested the words. He looked up, a wide smile spreading across his face. ‘No way!’</p><p>‘Try them on!’ Nile grinned, nudging Nicky with a smile. ‘Knew he’d like them!’</p><p>Nicky didn’t reply, he merely watched- he knew what the next few minutes would mean for his husband. His heart soared as he watched Joe tear open the box and pull the glasses from their protective bag.</p><p>The next few seconds would be etched in his memory for ever- Joe lifted the glasses to his face, his eyes closed, before he opened them wide, looking around. His hands flew to his mouth, eyes suddenly brimming with tears and emotion as the world erupted in colour around him.</p><p>The balloons, once grey or colourless blobs, now exploded with colour; the flowers in the vase were awash with vibrancy.</p><p>‘Oh my…’ Joe didn’t even have the words to express just what he was experiencing; his heart soared and his smile grew impossibly wide as he now turned to the other three.</p><p>Andy’s necklace popped with colours he didn’t even know were possible to possess with ones eyes. Nile’s shirt was a giant block of colour, and a tear wormed its way down his face as he finally turned to Nicky, who held out his hand, a smile on his own face.</p><p>‘This is amazing, so much colour, I- what colour even in this?’ He laughed as he poked Nicky’s oversized shirt.</p><p>Nicky snorted, ‘its red!’ he grinned, before pointing to Nile, who smiled down at her own shirt. ‘Her shirt is yellow, and Andy’s necklace is green…’ he smiled as Joe, now clearly overwhelmed by all the colours and the world changing around him, came to stand next to him, his shaky hands enveloping his forearms as he continued to look around.</p><p>‘So much colour….how do you guys stand it?’ he chuckled, shaking his head with a snort.</p><p>Nicky grinned and turned to face him; Joe’s smile faltered a little as they stared into each other’s eyes. ‘Wow…’ he whispered, putting a hand on each side of Nicky’s face and staring intently into his eyes. ‘What colour are your eyes?’ he said, voice low.</p><p>‘Blue.’ Nicky replied with a smile. ‘They’re blue.’</p><p>‘They’re beautiful…’ Joe whispered, not taking his eyes off them. ‘So much depth, like a summer storm at sea…’</p><p>‘Knew he’d fit a romantic poetry line in there somewhere!’ Andy snorted, before taking off her flowery necklace and placing it over Joe’s neck as they finally broke eye contact, their hands still entwined.</p><p>‘You guys did all this for me?’ he asked, looking around at the balloons again.</p><p>‘Of course, we love you, man!’ Nile smiled- Joe grinned over and caught her hand, squeezing lightly.</p><p>‘This is amazing…’ he muttered, shaking his head. ‘I am never taking these off…’ he grinned, looking up as Nicky laughed. ‘I’ll just spend all my time looking into your eyes, my love.’</p><p>‘As long as I am with you, I don’t care.’ Nicky grinned, leaning forwards to press a kiss to Joe’s lips, closing his eyes as Joe smiled into the embrace.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Hopefully science will one day get to the stage where full-colourblindness can be fixed with glasses.</p><p>I hope you enjoyed, please leave a comment below, I truly love and treasure every single one!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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